Bloomingdale woman says Paramus surgeon left her unable to blink

A Paramus plastic surgeon’s negligence in performing cosmetic eye surgery has left a Bloomingdale woman unable to blink, an attorney for the patient alleged in state civil court Wednesday.

Marilyn Leisz, the plaintiff, was not informed of the risks involved with surgery to remove excess skin from her eyelids, her attorney Roy Konray of Rahway told jurors seated before state Superior Court Judge Ralph L. DeLuccia Jr. in Paterson during opening statements in Leisz’s medical malpractice case.

What’s more, defendant Dr. Paul Parker should have known not to perform the procedure on her at all because there was no excess skin left to remove from her eyelids, the attorney argued.

Leisz is suing the doctor for negligence and is seeking unspecified monetary damages.

Hugh Francis of Morristown, the attorney defending Parker, said in his opening statement that the doctor did not deviate beyond the medically accepted standards of care. He flatly denied that Leisz was not informed of the potential risks of the surgery, saying that she was told both verbally by Parker and through a detailed brochure she was given prior to the procedure.

And then, he said, there are just the inevitable wild cards that come with any kind of medical procedure. “Medicine is not an exact science,” Francis told jurors. “No doctor can guarantee that any procedure will be successful.”

Konray said Leisz suffered from a condition know as ptosis, a drooping of the eyelids. She sought to have it remedied through a procedure known as a blepharoplasty, where the eyelids are reshaped by cutting skin from them to make them shorter.

The problem is that if too much skin is removed, a condition known as lagophthalmos, where you can’t blink, can result. That leaves the epithelium — a thin lining protecting the cornea — exposed. “The epithelium has to stay moist. That’s why we blink. It’s spreading lubrication over the eyes, keeping them moist,” said Konray, adding that the average person blinks about seven times a minute.

If the epithelium and cornea are not kept moist, a dryness condition called superficial punctate keratitis can occur — it’s an erosion of the cornea caused by dry spots.

Leisz had a congenital condition of her upper eyelids, he said, that caused them to droop and started affecting her vision. She had skin removed from her eyelids by a surgeon, to her satisfaction. A few years later, in 2004, she went to another doctor (who is not named as a defendant in the case) for the same procedure, this time for cosmetic reasons. In January 2005, she underwent another blepharoplasty in which 4 millimeters of skin was removed from each eye. “They were tight already, and then 4 millimeters were subtracted from each,” Konray said.

In August 2005, she went to Parker for a general follow-up to face-lift surgery he had performed before the eyelid surgery done by the other doctor. While she was there, Parker recommended more work on her eyes. She agreed.

Parker removed too much skin this time, leaving Leisz’s eyes unable to close, Konray said. He should have seen that there was no skin left to remove before performing the procedure, Konray said.

“She will be living with this for the rest of her life,” said Konray, who added another surgeon over the past few years has improved — though not fully repaired — her condition. She must take special eye drops during the day to keep her eyes moist, and cover her eyes with a petroleum jelly-like substance before she goes to sleep at night. Though her eyelids close somewhat during sleep, they do not close completely, according to the attorney, who showed the jury pictures of his client’s eyes, open and when attempting to shut.